1. Field of the Invention The invention concerns a method for testing a software system that operates a technical system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Software systems that operate technical systems have many different possible uses and modifications can be very complex with regard to their assembly and their functioning. Such complex software systems and testing of their enhancements is, for the most part, possible only with significant effort due to the manifold possibilities. For example, the time expenditure in testing software systems for magnetic resonance tomography devices can be on the order of a year. In spite of this expenditure, the danger exists that not all effects of a new software version are tested on the various technical systems. As a direct result of the time expenditure associated with the development of improvements of the software system, a complete testing can be implemented only with difficulty, such that undetected errors first reveal themselves with customers.
Typically, complex software systems are tested by the producer under as many individual conditions as possible, i.e. a test is implemented for each function. Boundary conditions in particular, because they are present in the operation of a technical system by a customer, cannot be considered. The test expenditure by the producer is very high, in particular with regard to personal and system costs, since the software system is simultaneously tested based on the manifold test functions on a number of technical systems. Many errors first reveal themselves after the general release and the delivery of the software systems to the customers. The problem in the development of complex software system is now that, due to the high-test expenditure, improvements/enhancements/upgrades can be passed to the customers only very slowly. Additionally, a high risk of failure and glitches exists in the operation of the technical system after a new installation of a software system.
A software update ensues for technical systems, for example for magnetic resonance tomography devices (MR devices), approximately annually, due to the complexity of the software, whereby the improvements of the software are collected and tested on technical systems of the producer.
A device as well as a method to initiate and/or diagnose control systems is described in German OS 101 25 384. A control system is a system that controls a machine with a suitable control program via a microcontroller. The device has a display device to display the functionality of the control system via an object model. The object model is an image of the functionality of the control system and includes, for example, technology objects such as positioning axes, and synchronization axes that can be combined with one another according to their functionality. Additionally, the device includes an engineering system with which the initiation, projecting, parameterization of controls, and actuations is possible, and/or with which the control program is generated on the basis of the functionality of the control system displayed via the object model.